Electro Fiber Pulling Apparatus with Spiral Rod

ABSTRACT

An electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod is provided for generating fibers or fiber web structure from a viscous liquid (such as polymer solutions, sol-gel or molten mass). The fiber pulling apparatus includes: a fiber generator with spiral rod; a fiber collector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generator with a certain distance; a liquid container for storing the viscous liquid for fiber generating; and a high voltage generator, wherein the electrodes of the high voltage generator are connected with the fiber generator and the fiber collector respectively.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a fiber pulling apparatus, especiallyto an electro fiber pulling apparatus.

2. The Prior Arts

A roller-type electrode (fiber generator) partially immersed in thepolymer solution and a fiber collector with counter electrodes spacedapart from the fiber generator for a certain distance are provided bythe PCT publication No. WO2005024101. The rotation of the rollerelectrodes can load the polymer solution uniformly onto the wholesurface of the roller. When the loaded polymer solution is located inthe electric field formed by the roller electrodes and the fibercollector, and when the electric field is strong enough for the solutionon the surface of the roller to be pulled to form a cone structure, thefibers are pulled from the surface of the roller, and are furthercollected by the collector with counter electrodes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a new electrofiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, so as to process variousviscous liquid into fibers in the electrostatic field.

An aspect of the present invention is to provide a fiber generator withspiral rod, which generates fibers from a viscous liquid based on theprinciple of electro fiber pulling, including an axle and a spiral bladeconnected to the axle.

More importantly, the average radius of the spiral blade is between 5 mm1000 mm.

More importantly, the spiral blade includes a single blade or a pluralof coaxial blades.

More importantly, when the spiral blades include three or more thanthree blades, the radius of the blades near the two ends of the axle issmaller than the blades near the center of the axle.

More importantly, the length of the fiber generator with spiral rod isbetween 20 mm˜6000 mm.

More importantly, the thickness of the spiral blade is between 0.5 mm˜50mm.

More importantly, the spacing between two adjacent spiral blades isbetween 5 mm˜800 mm.

More importantly, the fiber generator with spiral rod consists of a rowor a plurality of rows of the fiber generators with spiral rod, and thedistance between two adjacent rows is larger than 20 mm.

More importantly, the fiber generator with spiral rod includes a liquidcontainer.

More importantly, the liquid container is used to store the viscousliquid which can generate fibers.

More importantly, at least a part of the surface of the fiber generatorwith spiral rod is in contact with the viscous liquid in the liquidcontainer.

More importantly, the spiral blade has a hollowed structure, a pluralityof holes distributed on the surface of the blade, and a channel disposedinside each of the blades in communication with a hollowed driving axle.

More importantly, the channel inside the blade is in communication withthe liquid container so as to provide the viscous liquid from the liquidcontainer to the channel.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an electro fiberpulling apparatus with spiral blade, which pulls fibers from a viscousliquid in an electric field, including: the fiber generator with spiralrod according to the first aspect of the present invention; a fibercollector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generatorwith a certain distance; a liquid container used to store the viscousliquid for generating fibers; and a high voltage generator where theelectrodes thereof are connected with the fiber generator with spiralrod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes respectively.

More importantly, the axis of the fiber collector with counterelectrodes is parallel to the axis of the fiber generator with spiralrod.

More importantly, the width and the length of the fiber collector withcounter electrodes is the same as the width and the length of the fibergenerator with spiral rod.

More importantly, the fiber collector with counter electrodes can be aflat panel, a roller or any other conveyable belt-shaped receivers.

More importantly, the surface of the fiber collector with counterelectrodes has a porous structure so as to improve the ventilation inthe receiving area with dry gas of a certain temperature.

More importantly, the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rodgenerates a voltage difference higher than thirty thousand volts betweenthe fiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counterelectrodes.

More importantly, the distance between the fiber generator with spiralrod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes in the electro fiberpulling apparatus is between 100 mm˜600 mm.

More importantly, the viscous liquid of the electro fiber pullingapparatus can generate fibers.

More importantly, the fiber generator with spiral rod of the electrofiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod is immersed in the viscousliquid, and on the other hand, the fiber generator is configured torotate around the center axis thereof so the viscous liquid can beloaded onto the surface of the fiber generator with spiral rod.

More importantly, the fiber generated by the electro fiber pullingapparatus with spiral rod is a non-woven fabric or an oriented fiberfilm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a fiber generator with spiral rod according to the presentinvention, a viscous liquid container and a high voltage generator;

FIG. 2 shows the shape and the structure of the fiber generator withspiral rod according to the present invention in detail;

FIG. 3 is a picture of the fibers generated by an electro fiber pullingapparatus with spiral rod according to the present invention taken withan electronic microscopy; and

FIG. 4 shows the electric field intensity distribution of the spiralblade surface of the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rodaccording to the present invention, where the right half of the FIG. 4shows the enlarged spiral blades, and the numbers indicates the electricfield intensity (unit: kvolt/mm) of the constant voltage line.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides a new type of electro fiber pullingapparatus with spiral rod. The main purpose of the apparatus is toprocess various types of viscous liquid into fibers under the effect ofelectrostatic field. The core portion of the fiber manufacturer includesone or one set of the fiber generator with spiral rod consisted of anynumber of spiral blades. The fiber generator with spiral rod includesspiral blades and a rotatable driving axle, where the spiral blades aremounted on the driving axle. The diameter ratio of the blade to thedriving axle is greater than 1:3, preferably greater than 1:5, and morepreferably greater than 1:10.

The main purpose of the spiral blade is to focus the electrostatic fieldat the edge of the blade, and also lower or cancel the effect of theshape and size of the blade on the electrostatic field. Such equipmentcan distribute the high electric field uniformly and concentratedthrough out the fiber forming area on the surface of the blade. Duringthe operation process, a jet which forms the fibers is generated at theedge area of the blade when the electrostatic field is strong enough topull the liquid into a cone structure. While using multiple spiralblades, the interference between electric fields can be lowered orcompletely avoided by enhancing the distance between each blade, therebygenerating fibers.

The spiral blade of the fiber generator with spiral rod can be composedby a single blade or multiple blades. The blades are distributed alongthe central axis to form a spiral structure.

The spiral blades can be distributed along and around the center axis ofthe axle. The radius of the blades can be between 5 mm˜1000 mm. Thethickness of the blades can be between 0.5 mm˜200 mm, but morepreferably between 0.7 mm˜50 mm. When one set of blades is used, theblades can be distributed independently relative to each other. Thelength of the entire fiber generator can be between 20 mm˜6000 mm.

When the same set of blades is used, the electric fields of the bladesnear the two ends of the axle are stronger than the electric fields ofblades near the center of the axle. When the radiuses of the blades aresmaller at the two ends of the axle, the electric field generated alongthe axle can be distributed evenly over each blade. Therefore, the radiiof the blades near the two ends of the axle are preferably designed tohave smaller radii.

In order to prevent the blades from interfering each other, there mustbe sufficient spacing between two adjacent blades. The distance betweentwo adjacent blades, the thickness of the blade, the diameter of theblade and the structure of the blade can be adjusted accordingly. Thespacing between two adjacent blades is preferably to be in between 5mm˜800 mm.

The spiral blade can be made from any material, including conductive andinsulation materials. Metals such as copper, iron and aluminum can alsobe utilized as the material of the spiral blade, as well as engineeringplastics, resin, ceramics, woods or other composite materials. The onlyrequirement for the spiral blade material is that it cannot be dissolvedor degraded in the viscous liquid for generating fibers.

The spiral blades can have a hollowed structure, such as a channel incommunication with the hollowed driving axle to transmit the viscousliquid for generating fibers. Under this kind of situation, holes shouldbe disposed on the surface of the blades, so the viscous liquid can betransmitted from the inside of the blades and driving axle to thesurface of the blades where the fibers are formed.

The fiber manufacturer with electrostatic provided by the presentinvention, which can generates fibers from a viscous liquid, is alsocalled the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, includes:the fiber generator with spiral rod as described above; a fibercollector with counter electrodes spaced apart from the fiber generatorwith a certain distance; a liquid container used to store the viscousliquid for generating fibers; and a high voltage generator.

The electrodes of the high voltage generator are connected with thefiber generator with spiral rod and the fiber collector with counterelectrodes respectively to generate high voltage differences.

The fibers are formed from the viscous liquid, which covers the surfaceof the spiral blade of the fiber generator. The high voltage generatorgenerates a high voltage difference between the fiber generator withspiral rod and the fiber collector with counter electrodes. When thevoltage difference generated between the surface of the viscous liquidand the collector with counter electrodes is greater than a certainvalue (e.g. 30,000 volts), a jet is generated from the viscous liquid atthe surface of the blades, which forms the fibers eventually. Ingeneral, at least 40,000 volts of high voltage is required to formfibers. In most situations, it is better to have a voltage greater than60,000 volts.

The distance between the fiber generator with spiral rods and thecollector with counter electrodes can affect the strength of theelectric field. Generally speaking, the distance between the fibergenerator and the fiber collector with counter electrodes is between 100mm˜600 mm.

The viscous liquid for generating fibers can be any liquid that cangenerates the fibers, such as polymer solution, sol-gel, particlesuspension solution, or molten mass solutions.

In order to load the viscous liquid onto the surface of the spiralblades, at least a part of the surface of the spiral blades of the fibergenerator should be immersed in the viscous liquid, and the fibergenerator should be configured to be able to rotate around its centeraxis; in this way, viscous liquid can be loaded onto the surface of theblades. Preferably, the fiber collector with counter electrodes islocated above the spiral blades, and is parallel with the driving axlethereof. In this way, fibers are formed on the edge of the top surfaceof the blades, and are deposited onto the receiver with counterelectrodes.

The viscous liquid can also be loaded to the surface of the blades fromthe inner side of the spiral blades. In this situation, the spiral bladeis designed to have a hollowed structure, and a channel is disposedinside the spiral blade to be in communication with an external liquidstoring tank. The holes on the surface of the blades can load theviscous liquid uniformly onto the fiber forming area of the spiralblades. In this configuration, the liquid container below the spiralblades is mainly used to collect the excessive viscous liquid.

Different structures of the collector with counter electrodes can alsobe used in the present invention. Besides the flat panel receiver,rotational rollers or other continuous collectors similar to conveyorbelts can also collect the fibers more efficiently. Under somesituations, a porous network structure can be applied at surface of thefiber collector with counter electrodes, in order for the fibers tosolidify. In addition, dry gas with a certain temperature can also beused to speed up the ventilation of the air in the collecting area.

The fibers manufactured from the electro fiber pulling apparatus withspiral rod are non-woven fabric or oriented fibers.

The fiber generator with spiral rod can further include parallel arraysof spiral blades. In this situation, a large liquid container or aplural of independent liquid containers can be used with the arrays ofspiral blades. The spacing between the arrays should be greater than 20millimeters and preferably greater than 50 millimeters to preventinterference between the spiral blades.

The present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art byreading the following detailed description of preferred embodimentsthereof, with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod of thepresent invention. The electro fiber pulling apparatus includes fibergenerator with spiral rod A, a liquid container B for storing fibergenerating viscous liquid, a fiber connector with counter electrodes Cand a high voltage generator D. The fiber generator with spiral rod Aincludes a spiral blade A-01 and a driving axel A-01. The electrodes ofthe high voltage generator are connected to the fiber generator withspiral rod A and the fiber collector with counter electrodes B throughelectrode wire E-1 and electrode wire E-2 respectively. The fibergenerating viscous liquid stored inside the liquid container B issomewhat in connection with the spiral blade A-01. When the spiral bladestarts to slowly rotate (e.g. 40 rpm), the viscous liquid can beuniformly loaded to the surface of the spiral blade due to thecharacteristics of the liquid.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the fiber generator with spiral rod indetail. As shown in FIG. 2, the metal spiral blade extends in the axialdirection of the axle. When the spiral blades include more than threeblades, the radii of the blades near the two ends of the axle aresmaller than the radius of the blade near the center portion of theaxle. The spiral blades are partially immersed in the viscous liquid.

The preferred embodiments described above are disclosed for illustrativepurpose but to limit the modifications and variations of the presentinvention. Thus, any modifications and variations made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention should still be covered bythe scope of this invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

1. An electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod, which generatesfibers from a viscous liquid based on the principle of electro fiberpulling, comprising: a fiber generator with spiral rod, comprising: anaxle; and a spiral blade connected to said axle.
 2. The electro fiberpulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein anaverage radius of said spiral blade is between 5 mm˜1000 mm.
 3. Theelectro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1,wherein said spiral blade includes a single blade or a plurality ofco-axial blades.
 4. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rodas claimed in claim 3, wherein, when said spiral blades includes threeor more than three blades, the radius of said blades near the two endsof said axle is smaller than said blades near the center of said axle.5. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed inclaim 3, wherein a length of said fiber generator with spiral rod isbetween 20 mm˜6000 mm.
 6. The electro fiber pulling apparatus withspiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein a thickness of said spiralblade is between 0.5 mm˜50 mm.
 7. The electro fiber pulling apparatuswith spiral rod as claimed in claim 3, wherein a spacing between twoadjacent spiral blades is between 5 mm˜800 mm.
 8. The electro fiberpulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein saidfiber generator with spiral rod is consisted of a row or a plurality ofrows of said fiber generators with spiral rod, and a distance betweentwo adjacent rows is larger than 20 mm.
 9. The electro fiber pullingapparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fibergenerator with spiral rod includes a liquid container for storing saidviscous liquid for generating fibers.
 10. The electro fiber pullingapparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 9, wherein at least a partof a surface of said fiber generator with spiral rod is in contact withsaid viscous liquid in said liquid container.
 11. The electro fiberpulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 10, wherein saidspiral blade has a hollowed structure, a plurality of holes distributedon the surface of said blade, and a channel disposed inside each of saidblades in communication with a hollowed driving axle.
 12. The electrofiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 11, whereinsaid channel inside said blade is in communication with said liquidcontainer so as to provide said viscous liquid from said liquidcontainer to said channel.
 13. An electro fiber pulling apparatus withspiral rod, which generates fibers from a viscous liquid in an electricfield, comprising: said fiber generator with spiral rod as claimed inany of claims 1-12; a fiber collector with counter electrodes spacedapart from said fiber generator with a certain distance; a liquidcontainer used to store said viscous liquid for generating fibers; and ahigh voltage generator, wherein the electrodes of said high voltagegenerator are connected with said fiber generator with spiral rod andsaid fiber collector with counter electrodes respectively.
 14. Theelectro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13,wherein, the axis of said fiber collector with counter electrodes isparallel to the axis of said fiber generator with spiral rod.
 15. Theelectro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13,wherein, the width and the length of said fiber collector with counterelectrodes is the same as the width and the length of said fibergenerator with spiral rod.
 16. The electro fiber pulling apparatus withspiral rod as claimed in claim 15, wherein, said fiber collector withcounter electrodes is a flat panel, a roller or any other conveyablebelt-shaped receivers.
 17. The electro fiber pulling apparatus withspiral rod as claimed in claim 15, wherein, the surface of said fibercollector with counter electrodes has a porous structure, so as toimprove the ventilation in the receiving area with dry gas of a certaintemperature.
 18. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod asclaimed in claim 13, wherein, a voltage difference higher than thirtythousand volts is generated between said fiber generator with spiral rodand said fiber collector with counter electrodes.
 19. The electro fiberpulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13, wherein, thedistance between said fiber generator with spiral rod and said fibercollector with counter electrodes is between 100 mm˜600 mm.
 20. Theelectro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod as claimed in claim 13,wherein, said viscous liquid is a viscous liquid which can generatefibers.
 21. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod asclaimed in claim 13, wherein, said fiber generator with spiral rod isimmersed in said viscous liquid, said fiber generator with spiral rod isconfigured to rotate around the center axis thereof so said viscousliquid can be loaded onto the surface of said fiber generator withspiral rod.
 22. The electro fiber pulling apparatus with spiral rod asclaimed in claim 13, wherein, the fibers generated is a non-woven fabricor an oriented fiber film.